Cornerback Benny Sapp still was enjoying the Vikings’ playoff victory over Dallas a day earlier when he was asked if he had started watching film of Saints wide receiver Marques Colston.

“Not yet, not yet,” Sapp said Monday. “Later on in the day I will, starting today.”

Watching Colston might be enough to change Sapp’s chipper demeanor. Colston is part of a Saints receiving corps the Vikings will have to slow if they are to win the NFC championship game on Sunday at the Superdome and advance to the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years.

The Saints finished the season fourth in the NFL in passing offense (272.2 yards per game); the Vikings were 19th in pass defense (218.4).

Colston led the Saints during the regular season with 70 receptions for 1,074 yards and nine touchdowns – and he’s only one of the targets Pro Bowl quarterback Drew Brees has at his disposal. Colston is a big receiver (6-foot-4, 225 pounds) and has the ability to box out defensive backs. He had a team-leading six receptions for 83 yards and a touchdown in the Saints’ 45-14 playoff victory over Arizona last weekend.

Devery Henderson (51 catches, 804 yards, two touchdowns) and Robert Meachem (45 catches, 722 yards, nine touchdowns) are deep threats. Lance Moore, who missed much of the regular season because of various injuries but played against the Cardinals, is one of Brees’ favorite targets. Then there is tight end Jeremy Shockey and versatile running back Reggie Bush. Meachem (ankle) and Shockey (toe) are battling injuries but could play.

In other words, if the Vikings thought they had seen a tough offensive matchup with Tony Romo and the Cowboys, the reality is they haven’t seen anything yet.

“We all know that,” the Saints are more dangerous offensively, Sapp said. “You’ve just got to come to play, hit the books hard this week, the film. Everything that you did to get to this point, turn it up another notch and that’s what we’ve got to do.”

Sapp will be among the Vikings who will be counted on to play a key role in coverage Sunday. Exclusively the Vikings’ inside corner in the nickel package early in the season, Sapp is now playing both inside and at the left corner as the team tries to limit veteran Antoine Winfield’s workload.

Winfield missed six games this season because of an injured right foot, and in the past two games he has played only in certain situations in an effort to maximize his performance. Winfield played in short-yardage base situations and inside in the nickel against the Cowboys.

The Saints like to use three-wide receiver packages with a tight end and Bush on the field together, so that could mean the Vikings will spend much of Sunday in their nickel defense, meaning more snaps for Sapp and Winfield and fewer for middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley.

“You’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and look at the film and go over the mistakes you made during the season,” Sapp said of how a team goes about slowing the Saints. “Drew Brees, he seems like he watches everything. He’s the captain of that team and coming to play this guy, you know we all have got to stick together and try to repeat what we did this past week.”

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